The Fifth Element
by MidnightRaith
Summary: Lily and Rose Hathaway had always been close. Yet, when both gain secrets they refuse to reveal, their relationship soon suffers. Neither realize that what they hide could change their world forever. However, in order for change to occur the sisters will have to learn to trust and if you can't trust your twin, then anyone else is out of the question. AU/OC


**A/N: Hello, I'm MidnightRaith, and this is a revamp of my last VA fanfic I posted. I'd fallen into writer's block for a while, but when I returned to it, I found that I wasn't a fan of where it was going. So, Round 2 is here. Fair bit of warning, this story is going to be told in the point of view of an OC. I've decided to do this mainly to exercise some character building skills, but to also do something different. This is an AU that has a few questions driving it. Namely:**

**What would have happened if Lissa's parents weren't dead?  
**

**Why can't dhampirs, with their half-Moroi heritage, use magic?  
**

**What would it be like if they could?  
**

**So, some plot points from the series will change if applicable. What I do want to make clear here, however, is that the OC isn't going to be usurping any of the canon characters' big moments because I think that OCs can be good without completely invalidating or trivializing everyone else around them. The point of much of this is to add rather than detract. I'm also going to be leaving up my last try at this for a few more days. Mostly to give y'all a chance to compare this story with my last if you would like to but I've decided to take it down after that because it's simply taking up space since I won't be adding to it. Okay with all that said, onto the fic.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy or any of it's characters. Parts of this fanfiction will be taken from the book directly and all credit for them is due to Richelle Mead.  
**

* * *

1

It was breakfast time when they burst in. Usually, no one really pays attention to people that come into the cafeteria late, but this was a tad different. For one thing, an entourage of guardians came barreling in first. Guardians are around the academy and are a common sight, but not in a group like this and they don't enjoy causing scenes. This was enough to get everyone's attention, but what held it were the two girls they were escorting.

Vasilisa Dragomir, third remaining of her line and a lady among the royal Moroi, and Rose Hathaway, novice, notorious party girl as well as my twin sister. Both ran away together two years ago and I hadn't heard anything from them since. No one else had either. We were all beginning to think they were dead and I'd always hoped different.

With all eyes on them, Vasilisa, or Lissa as I'd known her to prefer, seemed to be blushing a bit. She wasn't hiding from our gazes exactly, but she wouldn't meet them either. She seemed to be focusing her attention directly ahead of her. Rose was different as she always is.

My sister was actually looking at all of us as she seemed to be trying to determine what has changed since she had left. I saw her look to Camille Conta with the slightest hint of distaste, Natalie Dashkov with a bit of exasperation and Lissa's old boyfriend with surprise. I didn't really understand that one, she never really cared much for Aaron either way; she thought he was dull. Looking towards him, I thought I could see what surprised her.

Aaron was looking at Lissa with barely concealed longing. That was too shocking, but his replacement girlfriend, who was currently right next to him, was a different story. While most everyone in the cafeteria was looking at them both with awe or surprise, or worshipful in Aaron's case, Mia the replacement was staring at them with intense hatred. I suppose that would be surprising. I wasn't aware that Mia had interacted with either of them prior to their disappearance, but I guess the look could be some form of weird, extreme jealousy.

Rose's expression changed once again when she finally came to me. I don't know what she expected when she came in here. It was as if she hadn't thought she was going to see me here. As she came to my table, which was near the doors leading to the administration building, our eyes met and locked for several moments. I'm not certain what she saw in my eyes, but I knew what I felt. Considering the fact that they had ran off in to a world inhabited by vampires that craved the taste of Moroi blood and wouldn't turn down dhampir blood, I had been very afraid for them. Rose and I had been very close before they left and Lissa and I got along pretty well. I was relieved that the idiots were even alive; let alone having them here in front of me. It had been a very long two years.

That didn't mean I wasn't angry, however. I wish I could say that their leaving had been a tragic surprise and betrayal, but it wasn't and that would only upset me further when I thought about it. Fact of the matter was, ever since the car accident Rose, Lissa and Andre, Lissa's brother, were in, my and Rose's relationship had gotten… distant. I've never been able to figure out why; she was hiding something from me. Lissa was also distant, but I couldn't exactly blame her seeing as her brother had been killed. Andre wasn't our brother though. Sure, he had been a cool guy and Rose and I had liked him, but I couldn't see her being devastated by his death. Yet, still both Rose and Lissa seemed to withdraw from me.

Most people wouldn't have noticed. In fact, classmates probably would have said that they both seemed to just jump into the spotlight. All of a sudden, they grew interested in the royal Moroi and they parties they would throw, but I know different. Rose wouldn't talk to me like she used to and Lissa seemed to grow awkward around me. I can't even remember all the times I confronted them about their weird behavior. Rose would get angry with me and then there would be the arguments…. Then one day, they up and disappeared.

That's when the interrogations started for me. Apparently, I'm my sister's keeper and no one was particularly happy that I either could not or would not reveal the location of one of the last Dragomirs and her wild and delusional dhampir friend. Of course, they didn't win any points from me when they made the former statement, but now that I think about it, I'm pretty pissed that my twin can't seem to trust me and left me here to deal with the fallout.

Rose could always read me pretty well and vice-versa. When our eyes first locked, she flashed me one of her arrogant smirks, as if to tell me she was always going to come back. Rose Hathaway, the badass. Nothing could bring her down, not even pure evil, vicious Strigoi. Then she seemed to catch on to my negative feelings. I could tell she wasn't sure what she should feel. Guilt was present and at first seemed to dominate her expression, then followed the anger to match my own. Oh, I can just hear the argument we'll probably have very soon.

'_You don't know anything, Lily. Don't start trying to judge us.'_

'_You won't tell me anything, Rose. What the hell am I supposed to think?'_

'_Just trust me on this!'_

'_And I suppose you'd know all about that!'_

That would be a variation of the old arguments we had before she left. Rose seemed to like her secrets and had no problems asking me to give her trust she didn't return. That's okay though, I've got secrets of my own, so we can play the secret game if she really wants to.

I broke our stare first. I suddenly didn't want to look at her anymore, it hurt too much. Then, Alberta and Guardian Belikov ushered them through the doors and they were gone. Presumably off to talk to Kirova and Lissa's parents and if her parents were there, then my mother was sure to be as well. I wasn't certain if the Dragomirs were called here, but I'd guess that they were. Lissa was their only living child now and they'd always liked me and Rose. I did not envy my sister right now. Mom tended to channel her worry into something she thought productive, namely determination or anger. Sometimes both and in this case, I could see both happening. I got a bit of a taste of that when the Dragomirs and my mother first came here when Rose and Lissa went missing.

'_Lilith Hathaway, if you are hiding _anything_….'_

'_I already told you that I don't know anything, Mom! What do you want me to say? Rose and I haven't been speaking and I can't stand the fact that she left me here without saying a damn thing! Is that what you wanted to hear?'_

Shockingly, my mother seemed to realize that I was telling the truth and that I felt horrible after my little outburst. She stopped interrogating me and switched to asking about what I thought Rose would do. Not that she was any happier with the response I had for that line of questioning.

"Hathaway Two, are you still here with us?"

Irritation immediately flashed through me and I was snapped out of my thoughts to find that most of the cafeteria was now empty. I was also no longer sitting alone. Mason Ashford and Eddie Castile were now next to me. Both had goofy smiles on their faces and I wasn't surprised that they'd be ecstatic about my sister's return. We'd all been good friends.

"Really, Ashford, that again?" I snapped irritably.

His stupid grin got even wider if that was possible.

"Of course. Now that Rose is back, we have to have names for the Terror Twins."

"Or, you could do something wildly different. Like calling us by our first names. That'd be cool, right?" I questioned as I glared at him.

He put his hands up in surrender.

"Aww come on, you know I'm messing with you, Lily. It's not my fault you were second. Why not take that up with Rose?"

He seemed excited that he could even say that now, but as horrible as this probably is, I didn't want to talk about or to my sister for a little while at least.

I shrugged as I gathered my trash.

"Come on, we're going to be late."

Eddie and Mason seemed to be determined to bring Rose up as much as possible on our way to the gym. They were theorizing about what Rose and Lissa got up to, why they left, whether they ran into anything dangerous, so on and so forth. They wanted me to chime in, but I didn't try too hard with my non-committal grunts, but they didn't seem too put out by me. I really don't think they noticed my complete lack of enthusiasm for praising my twin's horrible judgment.

My hopes that the boys would settle down once we got inside the gym were dashed as it became apparent that all the other novices wanted to talk about the same thing: Rose. This was getting out of hand; I mean it wasn't that impressive. Well, maybe it was a little impressive that an inexperienced novice managed to sneak herself and a Dragomir from right under the noses of the guardians. That didn't mean we had to praise her as a hero because I'm fairly certain that going outside the wards contradicts that a bit.

Fortunately, one of the guardians watching us came over to get on to the rest of my classmates for wasting time and soon enough, things got back to near normal. That is, it was normal until I was paired off with Meredith, the only other female novice aside from me and now Rose and she wanted to talk about my sister. I mean, I would _definitely _want to talk about my long lost sister, right? I sighed, I knew I was being petty, but I couldn't help it. I was glad she was back, but I couldn't get over how _stupid _this was.

_But feeling like you should have gone with her isn't stupid?_

I grimaced inwardly and pushed the thought aside. I wasn't going to deal with that today.

"So, now that Rose is back, are you going to let out why the left and where they went?" I heard Meredith ask.

I was now grimacing outwardly as well. For some reason, the majority of the students here and some of the faculty believed that I was protecting Rose and Lissa. They thought I knew the whole story and I often got flak for it because they figured my "silence" was endangering them. Well, Alberta, the Dragomirs, my mother and even _Kirova _eventually believed me, so the rest can just go to hell for all I care.

"Do we have to go through this again?" I asked as I blocked a kick from her. I also managed to land a quick strike on her right shoulder. Meredith winced but didn't otherwise react.

"Lily, you have nothing to hide anymore, they're back. I'm sure no one's going to get mad at you now. They'll all be more concerned about Rose and Lissa," she told me knowingly.

I swiped her legs out from under her and pinned her to the mat. No easy feat for me considering I'm smaller than her. Hell, I'm smaller than everyone in my class. Then again, I had a little help, but it wasn't like I could abuse it too much and risk making anyone suspicious.

"Sure," I answered, "but you're forgetting the tiny detail about how I don't actually know what's going on."

She bucked me off and I let her, but I scrambled out of the way before she could pin me herself.

"I can't believe Rose wouldn't have told you anything," she snorted.

Meredith chose to lunge at me then to take me off balance. I blocked her arm, which tried to nail me in the abdomen, but her kick managed to get my left thigh and that smarted a bit. She was trying to get me to the floor, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I enjoyed being known for my sparring skills. Sure, I was cheating, but at my size, I was going to take all the advantages I could get.

Faster than Meredith probably thought possible, I ducked under her next strike for my chest and made one of my own for her heart.

"Staked," I said flatly. "Why don't you just ask Rose when she gets back to classes? God knows she has the answers you're looking for."

Meredith scowled and was about to protest when the gym doors opened to reveal just the person we were talking about.

"Well, look at that. You won't even have to wait that long for your chance," I told her dryly.

Silence fell soon after I said that as everyone turned to see Rose walk in escorted by Belikov, one of the best guardians we have on campus. I could tell Rose felt a bit awkward from the way she held herself. She wasn't sure how to proceed. A bit out of character for her. Rose's eyes scanned the room; I wasn't sure what she was looking for. Her eyes fell on me for several moments, and she seemed to open her mouth for a split second. Then her gaze snapped to Mason and I saw a grin spread over her face. What the hell did that mean?

_She's different. Even more so than before._

I shook my head No, this was just a stupid stunt she pulled. My sister loves to play the rebel.

_She's very different._

Clenching me teeth, I forcibly pushed those thoughts down. I can't feel anything. She's different because she's been gone for two years.

"Hey Mason, wipe the drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time."

Ah, a joke. I wasn't going to admit that I missed her sense of humor. She could always diffuse the tension better than I could. Probably better to go to Mason for that considering he was just like her. Why not acknowledge me though? It was like she was avoiding me. I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to talk first. She's the one that left.

"This is my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."

Mason was grinning at her wider than I'd ever seen in these past two years.

"Oh yeah," she retorted. "Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then."

"It's _always _a good a time to think about you naked," added Eddie. Just like that, the tension was broken. Why was it so easy for everyone to treat her like that? Everyone else seemed to crowd around her and began to ask the questions they'd been pestering me about for the past two years.

There was one person that didn't seem too impressed, however. Guardian Belikov was walking towards where the other guardians were grouped muttering in Russian. The tone didn't seem too complementary. Well, that made two of us at least.

_She's stringing them along too._

I turned my attention back to Rose and could practically see the disappointment coming off the other novices. Rose was being coy in her answers and wouldn't give away anything in the slightest. To my irritation, they didn't seem to hound her on it like they would me. Probably because she was _so _cool and mysterious.

Eventually, the guardian from before came over and got on Mason directly for not controlling the class and everyone eventually went back to what they were doing. Mason partnered up with Rose and I had to admit that I was curious if she kept up with her training.

I had my answer not seconds later.

Before she left, Rose had been one of the top novices alongside me. We used to spar each other all the time to see which of us was better. It could never be truly determined considering we'd essentially beat one another off and on in a near perfect pattern. Now, I could say that there was no doubt. I'd definitely surpassed her. Of course, I had two years of instruction on her, not to mention my "help," but I don't think she even kept in shape. Mason was handing her ass to her.

Meredith no longer had my full attention, though I still managed to stake her a few more times before class ended. She got me once, but I wasn't too cut up about it. She seemed a bit upset that I'd beat her so soundly. She wasn't bad by any means, I was just better along with my advantage.

Rose was slow to get up once class ended, but Mason was kind enough not to make fun of her too much. I thought she was going to try to talk to me now that she had an opening, but she ended up heading off to second period like I hadn't been just a few feet from her. Well, Rose could do whatever she wanted, I couldn't care less.

Rose and I shared the next class as well. I was probably going to be seeing a lot of her this morning considering the Moroi and dhampir classes didn't mix until after lunch. This period was all about guardian theory. Essentially bookwork for body guarding. Easy enough if it weren't for the guardian that taught it: Stan Alto. Everybody called him Guardian Alto to his face, but behind his back, we all called him Stan. He was not very pleasant, but fortunately he and I had never had any real problems. That was Rose's area of expertise and I'm sure they hated each other.

Once inside the room, I realized that there was going to be a slight problem. There was only one seat left and it was next to my own. Apparently fate was determined to make Rose and I interact. I didn't want to give away the fact that I wasn't too pleased with this, so I sat down without a fuss. When Rose and Mason came in, I could tell that she hoped she could just hang around him for the rest of the morning. She didn't seem disappointed that she had to sit next to me, but she wasn't happy about it either.

It was a repeat of the gym. Neither of us was willing to be the first to crack, however this time we were obviously much closer to each other so the silence began to get awkward. Not even Mason or Eddie could bail her out of this one considering that they sat clear across the room. This was definitely something I was better at, Rose always hated awkward silences. Sooner or later, she was going to try to do something to get rid of it. Probably the former since I could see her fidgeting out of the corner of my eye. Only sheer stubbornness was holding her back, but that that was okay because that was one of the few things we had in common. I was certain I could outdo her in this situation.

Sure enough, her fists clenched and she turned towards me abruptly. Perhaps she was going to decide to be angry with me, but I never found out. Of all the times for Stan to storm in…. Well, maybe storm is a bit of an exaggeration, but he was pissed off. More so than usual and the class picked up on it and fell silent. Apparently, he heard about my sister's amazing return and we all kept looking between them both to see what would happen.

Stan came over and regarded Rose in mock surprise.

"What's this? No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Rose Hathaway. What a privilege! How very _generous _of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us."

_He's going to humiliate her in front of the entire class._

I scoffed inwardly. What the hell was I supposed to do? Yeah, sure, I was pissed at Stan for starting this; I mean it wasn't his place to bitch Rose out. I'm sure she already got plenty of that from Kirova and our mother. Not to mention me later to a lesser extent. Who the hell was Stan to think he had a piece of that pie? I barely realized that I was now clenching my fists.

_There are plenty of ways to make him stop. Plenty of _special _ways._

My eyes widened as I realized just how angry I was getting over this. Christ, I'm watching Stan rag on Rose, as he has many times before, and it's actually setting off my triggers. Maybe that was because I hadn't seen Rose for what's felt like a lifetime, but I knew I shouldn't be this upset. Stan was our instructor and even if I didn't like it, he did have good reason to ensure that the novices under his watch, Rose included, didn't run off and get sucked dry, or worse. Rose could take care of herself as well. She's dealt with Stan, she knew what to do and didn't need me going off and potentially making a very grave mistake. So, I beat those aggressive thoughts down and focused back on what was happening.

Rose had apparently been forced to the front of the room while I was preoccupied and Stan was now making her "teach" the class on what her methods were outside the wards. It wasn't surprising that she didn't have any. Stan must have really been getting to her because I could tell that she was struggling with her embarrassment and anger. I'd tuned back in just as her temper finally revealed itself.

"No!" she exclaimed angrily, "That's not true. I watched. She's still alive, isn't she?"

Stan walked up to her and got into her face.

"Because you got _lucky_."

"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there," Rose shot back. "It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound."

"Safer? _Safer? _We are at war with the Strigoi!" he yelled. I don't know how Rose tolerated him screaming in her face. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him—and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, _nothing, _compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

With that little speech, Stan seemed to finally get to her a bit. He probably wanted her to crack, but Rose was tough and stubborn and wasn't going to let Stan of all people make her cry. She looked past him and instead focused her gaze to the back of the room.

"Moroi blood," she whispered.

"What was that?" asked Stan loudly, "I didn't catch it."

Rose spun around to face him, "Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger."

He nodded in satisfaction and took a step back. "Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or a dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And _that _is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough—even with guardians—to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point in running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear…"

"…so do the dhampirs," Rose finished.

"Well," he said, licking some spit off his lips, "It looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."

With that final shot, Rose was allowed back to her seat. The class got under way, but neither of us was paying any real attention. Rose was brooding and I was watching her. I wondered if anything Stan had said had gotten to her. Despite slightly sympathizing with my sister at being humiliated in front of everyone, he had made some very valid points. Did she even consider any of them before she left with Lissa? Lissa may have made the choice to leave, but I knew everyone was going to blame Rose. That was how it worked. Guardians protected Moroi at all costs. Rose should have either gone to someone if this was all Lissa's idea, or she should have forced her to stay. It wouldn't have been hard; Rose could have just sat on her and convinced her not to go. With that being said, that meant that the escape was either Rose's plan from the beginning, or she completely agreed with Lissa.

But why leave? That was the main question, the great mystery and I didn't have a clue. Most people thought they simply left to get some freedom. To party and rebel or some bullshit like that. To be honest, I didn't believe that. Rose loved to party, but not at the expense of Lissa. Rose never did anything at the expense of Lissa. Me, sure which is why they left me here and wouldn't tell me a damn thing.

Rose was quiet when the period finally ended. Surprisingly, she seemed to have forgotten that we weren't speaking to each other or really interacting at all unless forced to. Maybe she forgot I was here and was still caught up in what Stan had said to her.

"You're the only person that hasn't said anything to me," she finally came out with.

I shrugged, "What should I say?"

She whirled around to face me, suddenly angry. Or maybe she's been angry with me and it's finally come out.

"Oh, I don't know, how about, 'Hey, glad to have you back, it's a good thing you weren't killed?'" she asked sarcastically.

"You've caught on that what you did was stupid and dangerous then?" I questioned as my own anger flared.

"Don't lecture me, Lily. I don't need that crap from you. You don't even know why we left so don't pretend to know what you're talking about," Rose snapped.

"Here we go. You're going to lord that over us all aren't you? If it were that important, you'd tell somebody, not drag your best friend past the wards and out where you both could have been killed."

_Hypocrite._

I was trying to goad the answers out of her and she knew it. Fact of the matter was Rose would never willingly put Lissa in danger. _They come first, _has been drilled into every novice's head since they could talk. Add in the fact that Lissa is Rose's best friend and pretty much another sister to her and all of the idiot theories running around here become that much more stupid. If Rose would never put Lissa in danger, yet took her out into the seemingly most dangerous environment she could, then that only meant one thing. For whatever reason, Lissa and Rose thought that Lissa was in danger _here. _Rose may have chosen the lesser of two evils in her mind. If that were true, then whatever they were hiding was huge.

"I'm not going to tell you anything," she said firmly.

_Make her._

_Shut up!_

"_Fine. _What's going to happen when it gets worse then? You're only giving yourself two choices right now. Either face whatever's bothering you here, which is also apparently the thing you both were so sure you couldn't handle the first time. Or, you run off again and probably get killed this time. You were lucky not to run into anything, imagine trying to use what little skills you have against a real threat."

"You don't know what you're talking about," she repeated, but I could see that I was onto something. She was surprised that I'd caught onto the fact that they had run from something important.

"I would hope that I knew my own twin well enough to realize that she wouldn't run off just for a cheap thrill. That's the most common theory, by the way. Everyone wants to think that you're completely irresponsible, no matter what I say otherwise. Well, I guess running from your problems and out into a place with not protection against Strigoi isn't that responsible either, but you get the point," I shrugged as I crossed my arms.

Suddenly, Rose revealed the exhaustion she's no doubt been coping with for the entire morning as she rubbed her temples. That wasn't the only indicator, just looking into her eyes showed me just how much this day and her situation was kicking her ass. Part of me felt bad for jumping on her like this, but I couldn't see any way to help her otherwise. I wanted to, but she was determined not to let me in, to not trust me and I had to admit that it hurt. And that hurt tended to make me angry.

"Lily, just drop it. I can't tell you or anyone else what's going on. It's not about me, okay? Just forget about it."

"Another piece of the puzzle then. I probably should have seen it. You hardly ever make anything serious about you," I told her.

"Leave Lissa out of this," she snapped as her temper gave out again. "She doesn't need your interrogations on top of everything else."

"Well, you're in luck then because I don't want to hear this from Lissa. She's not my twin sister for fuck sake," I said angrily.

This conversation was only going in circles now. Rose wasn't going to tell me anything right now, so there was no point in continuing. Our argument had managed not to attract any attention, which was surprising since we were out in the quad in view of plenty of students, but it would if we kept going. Apparently, short tempers run in the family. Rose had the same idea.

"We're going to be late," she told me flatly.

I wanted to ask when she'd ever cared about being late to anything before, but I managed to bite that comment back. Once one of us starts with the petty insults, it doesn't end until one of us says something she shouldn't have.

"I'd be easier if you just clued someone in," I said to her back as she walked away. She didn't bother to respond.

_How ironic._

_It's different._

_Is it?_

I brushed away the question. My problems weren't big enough to run away from our entire world.


End file.
